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2012 Heisman Trophy Contenders: Post-Week 7

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Will Manti Te'o make it to New York as a Heisman finalist?

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2012 Heisman Trophy Contenders: Post-Week 7</p>

Each week, the Athlon editors and others who closely follow college football vote on the most prestigious award in the sport. A 13-man conglomerate of college football gurus from Athlon Sports and other publications cast their votes this week for their top Heisman Trophy candidates. The votes will be tallied and the results will be posted as the Athlon Sports Heisman Watch List every week of the regular season.

Voting: Each first-place vote receives 10 points. A second-place vote receives nine points. So on and so forth with a 10th-place vote receiving one point. Here are Athlon's guest voters:

1. Geno Smith, QB, West Virginia (7 first-place votes)
Season Stats: 195-259, 2,271 yards, 25 TD, 0 INT, 28 att., 71 yards, TD
His strangle hold on the Heisman Trophy took a major hit this weekend in the blowout loss to Texas Tech. Did he need to go unbeaten to win the award? No. But he opened the Heisman door for other names to close the gap after 275 yards and one touchdown against the Red Raiders. He still has yet to throw an interception and is leading the nation in passing efficiency (180.8) Next game: Kansas State

Last

Name

Pos.

Team

Tot. Pts

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

Ballots

1.

(1)

Geno Smith

QB

W. Virginia

120/130

7

4

1

-

1

13/13

2.

(2)

Braxton Miller

QB

Ohio St

115/130

5

3

4

-

1

13/13

3.

(3)

Collin Klein

QB

Kansas St

103/130

-

5

5

2

-

13/13

4.

(4)

Manti Te'o

LB

Notre Dame

83/130

1

1

1

4

3

12/13

5.

(16)

Johnny Manziel

QB

Texas A&M

60/130

-

-

-

1

5

13/13

6.

(7)

Matt Barkley

QB

USC

35/130

-

-

-

1

1

7/13

7.

(6)

De'Anthony Thomas

AP

Oregon

34/130

-

-

1

3

-

6/13

8.

(9)

Kenjon Barner

RB

Oregon

26/130

-

-

-

-

1

7/13

9.

(8)

A.J. McCarron

QB

Alabama

24/130

-

-

-

-

1

6/13

10.

(18)

Barrett Jones

OL

Alabama

23/130

-

-

1

1

-

4/13

11.

(5)

Marcus Lattimore

RB

S. Carolina

17/130

-

-

-

-

-

5/13

12.

(10)

Mike Gillislee

RB

Florida

15/130

-

-

-

-

-

5/13

13.

(17)

DeAndre Hopkins

WR

Clemson

13/130

-

-

-

1

-

3/13

14.

(11)

E.J. Manuel

QB

Florida St

10/130

-

-

-

-

-

4/13

15.

(23)

Denard Robinson

QB

Michigan

8/130

-

-

-

-

-

2/13

16.

(12)

Stedman Bailey

WR

W. Virginia

6/130

-

-

-

-

-

2/13

17.

(ur)

Giovanni Bernard

RB

N. Carolina

3/130

-

-

-

-

-

2/13

18.

(13)

Marqise Lee

WR

USC

3/130

-

-

-

-

-

1/13

19.

(ur)

Montee Ball

RB

Wisconsin

3/130

-

-

-

-

-

2/13

20.

(24)

Venric Mark

RB

N'Western

2/130

-

-

-

-

-

1/13

21.

(16)

Jadeveon Clowney

DE

S. Carolina

2/130

-

-

-

-

-

2/13

22.

(ur)

Nick Florence

QB

Baylor

2/130

-

-

-

-

-

1/13

23.

(14)

Tavon Austin

WR

W. Virginia

2/130

-

-

-

-

-

1/13

24.

(ur)

Seth Doege

QB

Texas Tech

1/130

-

-

-

-

-

1/13

25.

(ur)

Johnathan Franklin

RB

UCLA

1/130

-

-

-

-

-

1/13

26.

(21)

Aaron Murray

QB

Georgia

1/130

-

-

-

-

-

1/13

27.

(22)

Jarvis Jones

LB

Georgia

1/130

-

-

-

-

-

1/13

2. Braxton Miller, QB, Ohio State (5 first place votes)
Season Stats: 96-159, 1,271 yards, 11 TD, 4 INT, 129 att., 912 yards, 9 TD
Miller continues to will his team to victory on a weekly basis. The sophomore rushed for 149 yards and a touchdown to go with 212 yards passing and two more scores in the air. He has accounted for 20 total touchdowns, is third in the Big Ten in rushing, second in total offense, third in passing efficiency and is the leader of one of two 7-0 teams in the nation (Ohio). Next Game: Purdue

3. Collin Klein, QB, Kansas State
Season Stats: 79-118, 1,074 yards, 7 TD, 2 INT, 98 att., 510 yards, 10 TD
Klein led his team to another clutch hard-fought road conference win by rushing for 105 yards and three touchdowns in the 27-21 victory over Iowa State. He is fourth in the Big Ten in rushing and has 37 rushing touchdowns in the last season and a half. He is the epitome of toughness, heart and leadership. Next Game: at West Virginia

4. Manti Te'o, LB, Notre DameSeason Stats: 59 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 3 INT, FR, 3 PBU
The Fighting Irish defense has not allowed a touchdown since Week 2 against Purdue and is No. 2 in the nation in scoring defense (8.7 ppg). Te'o posted 11 total tackles in the physical showdown win over Stanford and was an integral part of the four-down goal-line stand to win the game. He leads the Irish in tackles at 9.83 per game. Next Game: BYU

5. Johnny Manziel, QB, Texas A&MSeason Stats: 128-190, 1,680 yards, 14 TD, 3 INT, 91 att., 676 yards, 10 TD
Johnny Football set an SEC single-game total offense record against Louisiana Tech with 577 total yards (395 passing, 181 rushing) and six total touchdowns in the wild win. He is now leading the SEC in rushing (112.7 ypg) and total offense (392.7 ypg) and has accounted for 24 touchdowns. He is the most exciting player in the league, but he has another big test coming this weekend against the Bayou Bengals. Next Week: LSU

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